Kent Szadowski’s letter [March 25] was something akin to a bored mainstream music fan laboring under the mistaken impression that the public wants to know everything about his problem with a critically acclaimed album.
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However, I must come to the defense of Phair and her album because it happens to be a great record and, well, Kent wouldn’t know a great record “if it crawled up [his] ass.”
Apparently, some connection has also been made with the record buying public. Kent quotes Bill Wyman’s 24,000 sold figure (which I remember hearing last fall) as enough to get most acts dropped from “any decent sized label.” Exactly. Any decent sized major label. I called Matador Records (an independent label) and was quoted the latest SoundScan count (93,391) which, of course, is about 50 percent shy of the actual total (Matador’s words) given the fact that not all record stores use SoundScan. Unless you have stock in a record label, I’d say mega sales don’t make a great record, great songs do.
